Leighton Richardson released from custody after being held since Christmas Eve.

Leighton Richardson arrested in Tenerife after his girlfriend was found dying in a pool of blood at her apartment has been released from custody after being held since Christmas Eve.Before making his bail decision the judge studied police information which – despite earlier reports – said no baseball bat had been found at her flat.
But while investigations continue Leighton Richardson, born in Wrexham and who grew up in Mold, remains a suspect.He has been ordered to report daily to the court at Arona, on the holiday island’s south coast, where the investigating judge in charge of the case is based.Richardson has also had to surrender his passport to the court.
He was arrested in the early hours of Christmas Eve after Lisa McConway, 28, from Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland, was found by police at her flat in the brash resort of Playa de las Americas.She was in a critical condition and had severe bruising to much of her body.She was rushed to hospital but died at 1pm that day.
Reports said police had gone to the flat after neighbours telephoned just after 3am to report a violent row was taking place.The investigating judge decided to grant Richardson “provisional liberty” – the Spanish term for bail – after studying a written report by pathologists following an autopsy.
The experts were reported as concluding Miss McConway, who had a British passport, could have died either as the result of a beating or following a fall, it was reported yesterdayAlthough her injuries were consistent with an attack the autopsy revealed she suffered from a blood clotting condition which could cause extensive bruising as the result of a fall, court sources told local journalists.
Before making his bail decision the judge had also studied a police report which despite earlier reports said that no baseball bat had been found at Miss McConway’s flat.Nor had any witnesses been found to back-up the claim reportedly made by the initial caller a serious row had taken place.But two witnesses had said earlier Miss McConway had been “drinking a lot” and they had seen her “drunk”. The witnesses said she had fallen down opening a gash in her head.For his part Richardson had emphatically denied throughout his time in police custody and later at a closed door hearing in front of the investigating judge he had beaten Miss McConway.
Following Miss McConway’s death Jose Antonio Batista, the Spanish Interior Ministry representative in Tenerife, described the scene which greeted officers at her apartment as a “Dantesque spectacle”.He was quoted as telling local reporters: “All the furniture was overturned and there was blood on the floor and the walls.”
The official also said Miss McConway had telephoned Richardson, who lived elsewhere, at 3am last Wednesday to say she felt unwell. The boyfriend arrived shortly afterwards at her flat.Reports yesterday said the couple’s young son would be handed over to Richardson on his release.

Leighton Richardson has been arrested following the brutal murder of Lisa McConway

Leighton Richardson has been arrested following the brutal murder of Lisa McConway, 28, from Dublin, who was beaten to death with a baseball bat in Tenerife on Christmas Eve.Richardson was arrested yesterday morning by Spanish police and is to appear at a closed hearing before a magistrate will decide whether or not to press charges.He is understood to be the father of Lisa McConway's three-year old son. It's believed the boy was in the apartment when his mother was attacked. Police were called when neighbours heard a violent row.McConway was taken to a local hospital where she died at around midday on Christmas Day.

Spanish anti-Corruption prosecutor is to investigate who sold funds organised by the disgraced New York broker, Bernard Madoff, in Spain

Spanish anti-Corruption prosecutor is to investigate who sold funds organised by the disgraced New York broker, Bernard Madoff, in Spain. The prosecutor wants to establish if the agents acting here took an active part in the fraud which has been carried out, and it means that the Optimal and Banif funds from Santander will be under inspection along with all those who distributed the funds.

New owners of the Hotel Los Monteros, sacked 72 of the hotel’s 180 workers

The new owners of the Hotel Los Monteros, the Russian petrol group, North West Oil, are reported by El País to have sacked 72 of the hotel’s 180 workers, some 40%.
Gonzalo Fuentes, the Regional Secretary of the Commerce Federation of the Union Comisones Obreras, said that the workers are to take legal action, and say they have not been paid any compensation for the sackings or three months back pay which is owed. They are planning strike action on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day and say the stoppage could become indefinite. A final decision on strike action will be taken by the workers on Friday.A statement from the hotel said the decision was taken for economic reasons.

Spain’s government is to help home-seekers buy or rent one million homes in the next four years.

Spain’s government is to help home-seekers buy or rent one million homes in the next four years, it said on Friday, as it seeks fiscal catalysts as well as props for the hard-hit housing sector.

Under the plan, which was approved by the cabinet on Friday, Spain will spend 10.1 billion euros ($13.4 billion) to help the poorest families, the elderly, young people, the disabled and victims of domestic violence find a home through a system of subsidies to developers.

It also throws a lifeline to Spain’s struggling builders who have seen revenues crumble following a shuddering halt to a decade-long boom.That, added to a lack of credit, could see many more go the way of Martinsa Fadesa — at one time Spain’s biggest builder — which filed for administration earlier this year.The Housing Ministry said in a statement that the plan dedicated a third more than the plan’s previous draft and would increase the number of homes available by roughly 380,000 as Spain looks to infrastructure projects to head off what analysts forecast will be its worst recession in 50 years during 2009.Spain has announced fiscal stimulus totalling over 50 billion euros of tax breaks, low-cost loans and public works spending.

75-year-old woman was killed last night when the bedroom roof of her cave house collapsed in on top of her as she was sleeping.

75-year-old woman was killed last night when the bedroom roof of her cave house collapsed in on top of her as she was sleeping. The incident occurred at around 2.30am at number 19, calle Castellana, Rojales (Alicante), a small town with a population of just over 7,000 inhabitants some 4km inland from Guardamar del Segura.
The rest of the property was unaffected. Emergency medics were unable to revive the victim, who was pronounced dead at the scene.

legal firm in Murcia is offering properties for sale at really bargain basement prices

legal firm in Murcia, acting under instruction from several banks and almost bankrupt real estate developers, is offering properties for sale at really bargain basement prices. Some of the deals on offer are the result of property being embargoed, whilst others are due to an excessive building programme.

For example: a brand new home with three bedrooms and all the attendant services, set on the coast and near a golf course, is being priced at just one hundred thousand euros.

Ibiza Night Club owners raided by Organized Crime Special Response Group

Agents of the National Police Corps, assigned to the Special Response Group against Organized Crime in Ibiza, have proceeded to the dismantling of a complex criminal organization composed of Ibiza citizens who were very much related to the world of the night. It is the largest network of introduction and distribution of narcotic substances by residents on the island, according to the police stressed in a statement. investigation, which began in mid-May, found that detainees introduced and distributed the goods among traffickers involved in sales at bars and nightclubs on the island. The head of the organization, PPR, was in charge of making contacts with the mainland to stock up on drugs. The ringleader had numerous rented in the name of third parties in order to avoid such as leaseholder appear. Distributed the goods among all the homes, located in spots strategically placed to detect police presence This subject was traveling in rented vehicles, also on behalf of third parties, to avoid being detected. To provide this infrastructure was in charge of other detainees, TIT, who gained a certain amount of money held by each administration. December 8 players GRECO detected how the organization had anticipated the arrival in the island of a significant quantity of drugs, which sought to distribute at Christmas. After ascertaining that the goods were in Ibiza led to the arrest of those surveyed. Once the ruling was timely house searches and a half intervened four kilos of cocaine in rock of high purity, three cars (a BMW 330, a Volkswagen Golf and Volkswagen Polo), 4,000 euros in cash, precision scales, numerous mobile phones and 18,000 euros were frozen in several bank accounts.

Ocean View's "one-stop shop" property service ?

Football great John Barnes, tennis legend Pat Cash, cricket's Darren Gough and rugby's Martin Corry and Martin Offiah are just some of the high profile figures who were promised luxury apartments if their names could be used to promote overseas developments that many fear will never be built.The promises were made by a Spanish company, which was closely involved with Sean Woodhall, a 43-year-old fraudster who disappeared after a light aircraft carrying him and other debt-ridden businessmen crashed in a Brazilian forest in May.The sportsmen have been offered holiday homes at the proposed "five-star" resort in Tafedna Bay, Morocco, which does not have planning permission, where not a spade has been turned and yet on which sales agents have already been taking cash from British customers.Former England rugby captain Corry this week cancelled his involvement in the project after police warned him about the potential fraud."He no longer wants anything to do with it," his spokesman said. Pat Cash is also reconsidering his contract. In another closely related suspected scam, a group of well-known footballers, including one ex-England international, are preparing to sue Midlands-based Ocean View Properties, which the as having left hundreds of customers millions out of pocket.The company is also believed to have conned two serving police officers. Ocean View, which has debts of more than £100million, this week took down its website "for maintenance". Both police and Government fraud agencies are now investigating the company and a multimillion-pound black hole. The suspected swindles involve four central characters and their cross-border labyrinth of companies, which lured people to invest in "off-plan" holiday-homes in Spain, Morocco and the Dominican Republic.
Buy-to-let millionaire Colin Thomas is the owner of Ocean View Properties; Woodhall, whose body has never been recovered, was Mr Thomas's dealmaker in Spain; Adam Sargent was Mr Thomas's expert salesman in the sports world; and Spaniard Ricardo Miranda was the supposed developer in all three countries.Mr Thomas formed Ocean View in 2001, the year that Woodhall moved to Spain after being convicted for a franchise fraud in Birmingham.Woodhall found sites in the Costa del Sol, while in Britain Mr Thomas created a network of franchise agents to sell off-plan apartments.
These agents were part of Ocean View's "one-stop shop" property service, which allowed it to control cashflows and direct customers to its own recommended mortgage brokers, travel agents and Spanish conveyancing lawyers-a practice criticised by the buy-to-let industry's own trade body.
Among these agents was Mr Sargent, a financial adviser to star footballers. He helped Ocean View sponsor Aston Villa, West Bromwich Albion, and Leicester City.
They told cash rich footballers there were guaranteed rental yields and high capital profits abroad. Among the many footballers to invest in discount deals were Villa's Gareth Barry, Newcastle United's Alan Smith and Shola Ameobi, and ex-Liverpool midfielder Steve Staunton.In return they allowed their names to be used on promotional material. Similar deals were also struck with England cricketers Duggie Brown and Paul Nixon, who still advertise their involvement with Ocean View on the Professional Cricketers' Association website.Customers would exchange contracts with a Spanish developer and hand over typical deposits of £70,000 to Ocean View in Britain.Mr Thomas said he would then transfer the bulk of the deposit to the developer. Many of the properties were built, but some were sub-standard, according to customers. However, cracks surfaced when the Costa del Sol property market collapsed amid a widespread corruption scandal in 2006. It then emerged that Ocean View and Mr Miranda's development company, Sungolf, had been taking deposits for the proposed Estepona Beach and Country Club near Malaga, a site that did not have planning permission and which has yet to be built.That was not allowed under Spanish law, legal sources have said.They have also said that Ocean View's practice of charging customers Spanish VAT on the full purchase price rather than on just the initial deposit was also illegal.Customers, many of them preparing legal cases, are now claiming they were deliberately duped. Last week, Ocean View's owner Colin Thomas said because Sungolf had all the cash, it would be starting a refund scheme in February.However, Mr Miranda's spokeswoman denied that was the case, claiming they had "proof" the money had already been "returned" to Ocean View.Meanwhile, Ocean View has also been telling unhappy customers they can transfer their contracts to another of Mr Miranda's developments-Morocco's Tafedna Bay, a site where Mr Sargent has been touting for business through his new company, Zenith Overseas Investments.The links between the businessmen can also be traced to Mr Miranda's Punta Perla development in the Dominican Republic, an empty site where Newcastle's Alan Smith has also invested.Last week, Ocean View's Mr Thomas said he had no involvement there, but the Sunday Express has obtained a sales document, which states that cheques for deposits in Punta Perla should be sent to his company in Staffordshire.Mr Thomas also said last week that he had severed relations with conman Woodhall in 2004. However, Ocean View was acting as agents for Woodhall's now-defunct Punta Perla Caribbean company from late 2005. Two weeks ago Woodhall's other company, Worldwide Destinations, was expelled from the industry's trade body, the Association of International Property Professionals, for allegedly selling non-existent mortgages in Egypt.Mr Thomas, Mr Sargent, and Mr Miranda have all strongly denied any wrongdoing. Mr Sargent said: "I took on an Ocean View franchise for five years and recommended it as a pension replacement and pension supplement scheme to my clients."The idea was to get people to buy properties, then get them built, and put them into a rental programme with its own travel arm."Generally, they've done that to a degree. The travel arm wasn't as successful as everybody had hoped, but we've managed to put people into a long term rental contract and I've been a lot more hands on than most in the sense that I've tried to manage the clients expectations."

Spain's top-selling newspaper El Pais on Sunday revealed details of CIA secret flights taking prisoners to Guantanamo bay using Spain as a stop-over.

Spain's top-selling newspaper El Pais on Sunday revealed details of CIA secret flights taking prisoners to Guantanamo bay using Spain as a stop-over. According to the paper, the National Court of Spain is investigating the false names given by crews of several CIA-operated civilian flights that stopped over in Palma de Mallorca in 2003 and 2005.Egyptian Mustafa Osama Nasr and German-Lebanese Hamed Al Masri, who were kidnapped and tortured by CIA agents in Milan and Macedonia, respectively, were in those airplanes, together with others prisoners, says El Pais.
It also reports crews in those flights used false identities during stopovers in Spain, as stated in evidences given by the British organization Reprieve to Spain Justice. If the false identity crime is finally proved, National Court of Spain will demand CIA agents be taken to court, judicial sources affirmed.El País paper talks about eight of the passengers, who made phone calls to US from Royal Plaza Hotel, Ibiza, on February 6-12, 2005, and describes them as a team that participated in seven kidnappings and illegal traffic of people. The two pilots of CIA planes were registered as James Richard Fairing and Eric Matthew Fair, but their real names are James Kovalesky and Eric R. Hume, according to Reprieve’s investigator Olivier Minkwitz.

Jürgen Sauer is the co-founder of the Kempinski Hotel in Estepona and the owner of the Sauer real estate company.Arrested

Jürgen Sauer is the co-founder of the Kempinski Hotel in Estepona and the owner of the Sauer real estate company. He has real estate interests in Mallorca, Tenerife, Sotogrande, Mijas and Marbella. His current offices are in the annexe of the Laguna Beach Hotel. Judicial sources have told El País that he is accused of money laundering and has been granted bail at 150,000 €.German businessman has been arrested in connection with the Hidalgo money laundering case in Marbella. Eighteen months after the case, based in the lawyers Cruz Conde, broke, police have now arrested a German businessman based on the Costa del Sol and have once again searched the offices of the Marbella lawyers Cruz Conde.The Anti-Corruption prosecutor is investigating the creation of 800 companies in the Cruz Conde offices, allegedly used to launder money from illicit origins.

It is ludicrous that people on the Costa del Sol are getting winter fuel payments

Parliamentary investigation into fuel poverty is to investigate £12 million a year of winter fuel payments made to British pensioners living abroad. Michael Jack, chairman of the Select Committee for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said the issue had emerged as a “key” area of concern in their inquiry. He said: “For many pensioners in the UK at the moment the winter fuel payment is the difference between turning on the heating or not. With the sharp rise in fuel bills we wish to check the deployment of this benefit and how effective it is. “It certainly seems very unusual that this remains a universal benefit, payable to every pensioner at 60 and is not even means-tested.” The select committee is expected to make recommendations about possible changes to the winter fuel payment scheme in a report to Ed Miliband, Energy and Climate Change Secretary, in the new year. Under official rules the £200 winter fuel allowance is paid to anyone living in Britain on their 60th birthday on a state pension, even if that person intends to retire or spend winter months in wamer countries. The payments rise to more than £300 for the over-80s. There is not even a requirement for the money to be used for heating bills. The payment is only made if British citizens move to one of the 29 countries in the European Economic Area. It is part of the European Union portable allowances scheme and cash is paid into overseas bank accounts. It does not apply to anyone moving to Commonwealth countries such as Australia, New Zealand or Canada, who have their pension and fuel payments frozen once they leave Britain. A coalition of pensioners’ groups is lobbying for these payments to some 50,000 Britons living abroad to be switched to help those at home struggling to pay bills to combat the cold. The Fuel Poverty Advisory Group (FPAG) claims that gas and electricity bills in Cyprus, for example, which enjoys some 300 days of sunshine a year, are £500 cheaper than in Britain. Derek Lickorish, chairman of the group, is angry about the inequity of the payments and is to speak against them when he gives evidence to the MPs’ inquiry on Monday.
“We are urging the Government to review its policy. Many of these countries do not even get cold in the winter months yet the payments are automatic. And many of the pensioners who receive this cash are higher rate taxpayers - the wealthy - and they have less need for them.” He added: “Obviously there will always be extreme circumstances in which some pensioners living abroad will be in need of funds for winter fuel but there is an overwhelming case for the payments to be better targetted.” Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the Taxpayers’ Alliance, called for these payments to expatriates to be scrapped immediately. “It is ludicrous that people on the Costa del Sol are getting winter fuel payments,” he said. “These benefits are meant to help hard-up pensioners in Britain get through the winter, so they shouldn’t be paid to expats. It beggars belief that the taxpayer is forking out for all these people living it up overseas, who are taking us all for a ride.”
Pensioner couples such as Jim and Hilary Ross, of Rochester, Kent, have seen their own fuel bills rocket an extra £360 a year. This has effectively cancelled out the winter fuel payment sending them into fuel poverty. Any household spending 10 per cent or more of its income on gas and electricity is defined as fuel poor. Mrs Ross said: “The winter fuel payments do not help us as much as they could - they should be means-tested because clearly pensioners living in Cyprus or Spain are not going to be as cold as us. It just doesn’t seem fair.” Any change will have to win the backing of Gordon Brown. The issue is a cross-departmental matter between Ed Miliband responsible for energy and James Purnell, Work and Pensions Secretary, whose staff make the payments to pensioners.
A spokesman for the Department of Work and Pensions said: “It is a universal benefit. The majority of people receiving the payment need and appreciate the financial assistance. There are strict eligibility rules and people must be 60 to qualify. It cannot be claimed by anyone aged 58 or 59 who takes early retirement and goes to live abroad. It is also only paid to former UK residents living in the European Economic Area or Switzerland if they qualified for it before leaving the UK.”

Spanish property developer said Tuesday it will hold a raffle to unload 31 apartments near Barcelona

Spanish property developer said Tuesday it will hold a raffle to unload 31 apartments near Spanish property developer said Tuesday it will hold a raffle to unload 31 apartments near Barcelona which have been difficult to sell amid a collapse in the real estate market.Tickets for the raffle cost 50 euros (63 dollars) and they will go on sale on Wednesday, a spokesman for developer Grupo de Empresas Rob told AFP.The company hopes to sell 7,000 raffle tickets for each apartment which will be awarded, meaning it would raise 350,000 euros per dwelling.If the developer does not sell at least 6,500 tickets for a particular apartment, the raffle will not go ahead for that property and participants will receive a refund.The raffle, which will be supervised by a notary, will be held in the coming months, the spokesman said.
All of the apartments -- which are between 50 and 90-square metres (970-square feet) -- are all located on the same street in the Barcelona suburb of Santa Coloma de Gramenet.After a decade-long boom, Spain's property market began to slump last year due to rising interest rates, oversupply and tougher lending conditions introduced in the wake of the global credit crunch.Property sales declined 28.2 percent during the first nine months of this year compared with the same period of 2007, national statistics institute INE said last week.The drop in sales has led developers to come up with innovative promotions to try to sell properties.In October another Spanish developer, Salsa Immobiliaria, offered a one bedroom apartment to anyone who bought one of its four-bedroom townhouses near the beach in Terrazas de Miraflores on the Costa del Sol.In May a man who could not meet mortgage payments on his apartment near Madrid tried to organise a raffle to unload it but he had to call off the contest because he failed to get the proper authorisation.

Spanish police said Monday they had arrested 40 people in nationwide raids as part of an operation against Internet child pornography

Spanish police said Monday they had arrested 40 people in nationwide raids as part of an operation against Internet child pornography in which 25,000 photographs and over 9,000 videos were seized.Another 35 people who are suspected of owning and exchanging pornographic images involving minors over the Internet were placed under investigation, they said in a statement.Police launched their investigation in February after receiving a complaint from a man who said he had accidentally downloaded pornographic images involving children from an Internet site.Spanish police have stepped up their fight against Internet paedophile pornography, aided by Hispalis, a computer programme that provides the names and addresses of Internet users accessing illegal child pornography sites.Over the past five years, over 1,200 people have been detained as part of investigations into Internet child pornography.

Spain's police have unveiled the plans of the Georgian-born crime boss Zakhar Kalashov

Spain's police have unveiled the plans of the Georgian-born crime boss Zakhar Kalashov, who was trying to influence the judiciary and free him from the Spanish prison. Spanish newspaper ABC reports that Kalashov has created a whole structure which had to work on his release from prison, just the way he used to do in Russia. Oleg Vorontsov and Alexander Golfshtein were the key figures in this secret plan. Vorontsov was the first advisor of Russia's ex-president Yeltsin years ago.As the author of the article reports, Golfstein brought a very serious amount of money collected from Russian criminal network to Spain, which had to be spent on the release of the crime-boss Kalashov. Kalashov was arrested in Dubai in 2006, as he was returning from a 'congress' of criminal authorities.

Michael Wilks was arrested by Spanish police after 500 kilos of cannabis worth £1.5million was seized.

Michael Wilks, 34, of Barking is being held along with four others thought to be part of a trafficking ring trying to smuggle drugs into the UK.Amanda Goodwin, 48, from Brighton, David Mead, 45, of Beckenham, Martin James Veryard, 39, and a Romanian man were also arrested.The huge stash of cannabis was found in compressed blocks in the back of a van in Benijofar, south of Alicante in Spain.After discovering the drugs armed officers swooped on an address in El Garrucha in Murcia, a stolen luxury car and a gun were found at the property.Spanish police said the operation, codenamed Rostel, was part of a sting on a common drug trafficking route from north Africa to south Spain.All five suspects are awaiting trial in Spain on crimes against public health; the foreign office was unable to comment.

Seizure of cocaine worth over one million pounds from a fishing vessel co-owned by Spanish and local company.

The fishing vessel, “Venturer”, is currently anchored in Port Williams, outside the capital Stanley, next to another trawler belonging to the same company.

Royal Falkland Islands Police confirmed that they had made a seizure of cocaine worth over one million pounds from a fishing vessel co-owned by Spanish and local company. Falklands’ Chief Police Officer Paul Elliot said that a joint operation involving the Falkland Islands Customs and Immigration Department, the JSPSU Dog Section and the Royal Falkland Islands Police resulted in the arrest of six foreign seamen and the seizure of a large quantity of a class A drug, namely over 30 kilos of cocaine with an estimate street value of over one million pounds (1.6 million US dollars).Apparently the drug was sniffed by a dog which has a previous live find.
Mr. Elliot reported that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office are aware of the catch and have informed the appropriate British authorities.A representative from the local Falklands’ company Fortuna, Stuart Wallace made a brief statement on the incident: A number of employees of one of our group companies have been arrested in connection with the possession of an illegal drug.Mr. Wallace said that the Company is of course co-operating fully with the ongoing investigation being carried out by the relevant authorities.Reliable Falklands’ sources have said that as the tightening of routes from cocaine producing areas to Europe via United States and the Caribbean, “we shouldn’t be surprised these things happen, but I believe the Falklands are prepared for such a challenge”.The Falklands main source of income is fisheries, particularly squid most of which is transhipped in the Islands or in the Uruguayan port of Montevideo for export to Europe.Recently Uruguayan authorities working on tips from the US and Spain busted an international organization that sent illegal drugs taking advantage of frozen fish exports from the port of Montevideo to Spain.

Police in Spain are investigating $125,000 in missing designer jewelry last seen on Winona Ryder

It seems that the Police in Spain are investigating $125,000 in missing designer jewelry last seen on Winona Ryder at an event on Sunday. She was loaned an incredible Bulgari bracelet and ring to wear to a Marie Claire event in Spain last weekend. Now the jewelry is apparently missing.Supposedly Winona left the diamond encrusted bracelet and ring in an envelope and handed them to front desk staff at her Madrid hotel. But closed circuit TV doesn’t show her returning anything.
And even though Winona was arrested for shoplifting at Saks Fifth Avenue in 2001 and there was this incident with a CVS Pharmacy, police are not considering Winona a suspect in the jewelry case at this time.

Aifos, a holiday home developer based in Marbella, has been forced into receivership by one of its creditors

Aifos, a holiday home developer based in Marbella, has been forced into receivership by one of its creditors , the Spanish press reports.The company is reported to have 850 million Euros of debt, which would make it one of the biggest developers to date to go into administration, after Martinsa-Fadesa and Tremon. Its biggest creditor is Banco Popular, which it reportedly owes 200 million Euros, followed by Banco Pastor, which it owes 150 million Euros, though Banco Pastor claims its exposure to Aifos is only around 30 million Euros.Gestión de Obras y Reformas Ltd, one of Aifos’s suppliers and creditors, started bankruptcy proceedings against Aifos last week in a court in Malaga. Press reports speculate that the failure of the Spanish developer Tremon might have prompted the bankruptcy proceedings against Aifos.Aifos, one of the biggest developers in Andalucia, has been on course for liquidity problems since 2006, when it was caught up in Operation Malaya, a police operation against municipal corruption. Jesús Ruiz Casado, the owner of Aifos, and Jenaro Briales, the then MD, were arrested on the suspicion of paying bribes. Aifos is also accused of unethical conduct by many of its clients, and has serious, unresolved client problems at many of its developments, some of which have been illegally built.
Aifos’s frustrated clients, some of whom made stage payments 7 or more years ago and still have no home to show for their payments, will need to keep a close eye on proceedings if they wish to avoid losing all hope of recovering their money.

Spanish leader General Francisco Franco's daughter has revealed that her father feared that Adolf Hitler would kidnap him

Spanish leader General Francisco Franco's daughter has revealed that her father feared that Adolf Hitler would kidnap him to force Spain into the Second World War.
Carmen Franco Polo, 82, said that her father had even nominated three substitutes to assume power at a conference in 1940, just in case he was actually abducted by the Nazi leader. She has written about her life with El Caudillo in her book 'Franco, My Father', published in Spain on Friday. The only daughter of General Franco, who ruled Spain for about four decades, also reveals that her father ordered troop reinforcements to the coast at the end of the Second World War because he believed that the Allies would invade his country. According to her, her father thought that he had a good relationship with British leader Winston Churchill during the war, but did not get on with the then US President Franklin Roosevelt.She even describes Roosevel's wife, Eleanor, in novel terms. The Americans liked my father but not Roosevelt, whose wife was very pro-Communist, Times Online quoted her as writing in the book. Carmen said that the reason why her father liked the British was his belief that they were law-abiding. He admired England a lot, especially the people, because they did what they had to do and obeyed the law. This he found very admirable, she said. She said that when Franco went to meet Hitler in 1940 in Hendaye, a French town on the Spanish border, he was afraid that Hitler could kidnap him just like Napoleon had kidnapped Spanish King Carlos IV in 1808 during peace talks.It was due to that fear, she added, that her father had nominated a general and two others to assume control of the country should he be kidnapped.
She revealed that Franco angered Hitler by refusing to enter the Second World War, and found their meeting a bad-tempered affair. To my father it seemed very, very different. When they talked it didn't have the good atmosphere which happened with a later meeting with Mussolini, she wrote.Carmen's book consists of a series of interviews with the Spanish historian Jesus Palacios and Stanley G. Payne, an American expert on Spain. She has also mixed her own memories about world events with reminiscences about day-to-day life

Gangland leader Allan Foster is now believed to be hiding in Spain.

Former Northumbria Police officer has been found guilty of passing on police information to a murder suspect. Newcastle Crown Court was told that Det Con John Jones became the "eyes and ears" of gangland leader Allan Foster. The court heard his actions meant that Mr Foster, wanted for the killing of a South Tyneside drug dealer, could stay one step ahead of the law. Jones, from Seaham in County Durham, was found guilty of four charges of misconduct in a public office. He will be sentenced on Wednesday. The jury heard that Jones began associating with Mr Foster, who worked out at the same gym. At one point they went to London for a night out in London involving prostitutes and cocaine. After the murder of David "Noddy" Rice in South Shields in 2006, Mr Foster, now 32, was able to stay one step ahead of the authorities and spirit himself out from the country. He is now believed to be hiding in Spain. After he was arrested, Jones told officers he associated with Mr Foster in all innocence, but accepted he had been foolish. Det Supt Ian Daws, head of the Northumbria Police Integrity Unit, said the corruption investigation began soon after Mr Rice was killed. He said: "Witnesses were refusing to speak to detectives because they believed Allan Foster had 'a cop on the payroll'. "Jones' failure to respond to the request for information in the murder investigation severely impaired the progress of that case in its early stages." Det Supt Barbara Franklin said: "We are still actively seeking Allan Foster and would ask anyone with information to contact the police."

Sales of holiday homes on the Costa del Sol have plummeted in the last year, down 89 per cent.

Only 2,500 properties for residential tourists have been sold this year |Sales of holiday homes on the Costa del Sol have plummeted in the last year, down 89 per cent. In fact we have to go back 25 years to find figures similar to this year?s thanks to the economic crisis that is affecting not just in Spain, but also the other countries whose citizens once flocked to the Costa del Sol to buy a holiday home.According to the President of the Malaga Builders and Developers Association (ACP)

Jose Oliveira e Costa, Former chief of Spain's BPN bank Banco Portugal de Negocios (BPN) between 1997 and early 2008, was arrested

Jose Oliveira e Costa, Former chief of Spain's BPN bank Banco Portugal de Negocios (BPN) between 1997 and early 2008, was arrested Thursday on charges of suspected tax fraud, money laundering, forgery, abuse of credit and illegal gains. Portuguese judicial authorities have detained the former president of financially troubled small commercial bank BPN on charges including alleged tax fraud and money laundering, local media reported Thursday. The Central Criminal Tribunal in Lisbon sentenced Costa to three months of preventive detention Friday after an eight-hour hearing, the Portuguese daily Diario de Noticias reported. The detention aims to prevent the suspect from escaping and destroying documents that may contain incriminating evidence, the paper said, quoting court officials. The court will decide whether to extend Costa's detention after the three-month period expires, said the report. The government said earlier this month that BPN had suffered losses worth about 700 million euros (880 million U.S. dollars) due to bad management and malpractice. It also decided to nationalize the bank in a bid to prevent a financial crisis chain reaction in Portugal. Following the government's announcement, local media revealed that police had long started investigations into BPN, which is suspected of being involved in money laundering. Portugal's banks have weathered the financial crisis relatively well as they hold no U.S. subprime assets and have relatively conservative lending practices.

Scam estimated to have netted the gang more than €65 million euros

Judge at Fuengirola court has indicted twenty individuals of different nationalities with conspiring to defraud around 200, mostly British, foreign property investors in a scam estimated to have netted the gang more than €65 million euros. They are accused of selling shares in fictitious construction properties on the Costa del Sol and face charges including fraud, falsifying documents, money-laundering, and tax evasion. Two of the suspects were arrested last Wednesday in a series of raids across Málaga province.

Spanish and British journalists kidnapped in northern Somalia refused a police escort and arranged for their own security through their translators,

Spanish and British journalists kidnapped in northern Somalia refused a police escort and arranged for their own security through their translators, who are suspected of having abducted them, officials said on Thursday.
Spanish freelance photographer José Cendón and British journalist Colin Freeman, who were working on a report on piracy for Britain's Daily Telegraph, were kidnapped on Wednesday in the port of Bosasso, the capital of the semi-autonomous Somali state of Puntland.
"On arrival, the authorities warned them to take a police escort, but they turned this down and hired their own security from an unknown militia group hired by their translators, who we suspect of being the kidnappers," Puntland Information Minister Abdirahman Mohamed Bankah said in a press conference.
Puntland's authorities "are doing everything possible to obtain information on their whereabouts and taking the necessary measures to free them," Bankah said.
The journalists' driver, Liban Said Omar, told Efe that the two journalists had been in Bosasso for a week working on a story about piracy when they were abducted.
In recent months, pirates from Puntland have become more active, seizing several dozen ships, including the Saudi-owned supertanker MV Sirius Star and the Ukrainian cargo ship Faina, which was carrying arms.
The pirates are still holding the two vessels, along with about 15 other ships, and demanding the payment of ransom.
There are reports that the kidnappers have taken the journalists to a mountainous area north of Bosasso.
Puntland presidential spokesman Bile Mohamoud Qabowsade, meanwhile, said the journalists were in the region illegally.
"They were not here legally because they did not report their identity to police on arrival," Mohamoud Qabowsade told Shabelle Radio.
Mohamoud Qabowsade told Efe on Thursday by telephone that the three translators and facilitators hired by the journalists were behind the kidnapping, but he did not provide any evidence to back up his allegations.
"I have warned journalists who come here that they should not make contact with independent press facilitators because they have links to armed gangs and could kidnap them. If they come here, they should have police escorts," the presidential spokesman said.
Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba said on Thursday in Brussels that Spain and Britain had created a "crisis group" to deal with the journalists' kidnappings.
Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos, meanwhile, said Spain had not yet received any ransom demands from the kidnappers.
The Venezuela-born Cendón has won several awards for his work covering conflicts in sub-Saharan Africa, including the 2007 Oskar Barnack Leica Prize for the story "Fear in the Great Lakes," which took him to psychiatric hospitals in Rwanda, Burundi and Congo.
The 34-year-old Cendón currently works out of Addis Ababa.
The Spanish photojournalist's family is anxiously awaiting word from the kidnappers, Cendón's brother-in-law, Manuel Canedo, told Efe from the northwestern Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela.
"Up to now, we knew wherever he was, he was fine, because every few days he would call or send an e-mail ... but the situation is different now. You don't know anything," Canedo said.
Two other Western journalists are still missing in Somalia, where they were abducted in August along with a Somali cameraman, and they have reportedly been taken to a hideout in the country's southern region by an armed group.
Last December, a Spanish doctor and an Argentine nurse working for Doctors Without Borders were kidnapped in Puntland.
Spanish Dr. Mercedes García and Argentine nurse Pilar Bauza were released in January after $200,000 in ransom, according to Somali officials, was paid.

Advertising on Spanish channels regularly breaks the 12 minute per hour limit fixed by European legislation

The European Commission has decided to take Spain to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg for not taking measures to stop the amount of advertising shown on TV screens here. Advertising on Spanish channels regularly breaks the 12 minute per hour limit fixed by European legislation, often by several minutes.EU Commissioner for the Information Society, Viviane Reding, described the situation in Spain as ‘saturation’, and said that previous EU warnings, starting in July 2007, had been ignored.

Fifth largest real estate company in Spain, Habitat, has filed for bankruptcy protection. Habitat has a reported debt of 2.3 billion €.

fifth largest real estate company in Spain, Habitat, has filed for bankruptcy protection. Habitat has a reported debt of 2.3 billion €.
The company is thought to have over-extended itself when it purchased Ferrovial Inmobiliaria, before the real estate bubble burst, and can no longer sustain such a high level of debt. A statement from the company said the objective was to preserve, in the best way possible, the rights of all the creditors and to proceed to a restructuring of the financial situation, which will allow the continuation of the business.It’s the second largest company failure in Spain, behind only that of the Martinsa-Fadesa last summer. The Tremón Group also declared itself insolvent just over a week ago with a debt of 900 million.Meanwhile another large real estate company, Colonial, has warned that it too could declare itself insolvent. The company is trying to disinvest itself from its investments in FCC, SLF, and Riofisa, otherwise it too says in a statement published today that it will be unable to restructure its debt in the long term.Staying with real estate companies, Metrovacesa has proposed the sale of the HSBC head offices in London for 1 billion €. The operation would mean a loss of 97.9 million for the Spanish firm. Metrovacesa has asked HSBC to consider ‘any refinancing proposal that comes along’.
It comes as, on November 27, Metrovacesa is faced with the refinancing of a 1billion € debt it took on to buy the building.The cabinet on Friday approved as expected the new 11 billion € plan to stimulate the Spanish economy. The plan is intended to create 300,000 jobs, and most of the money, 8 billion €, goes to the local town and city halls.The fall in the Euribor rate which ends November at a monthly rate of 4.35% means that mortgages are to be cheaper for the first time in three years. The number will be confirmed by the Bank of Spain on December 10.
The daily Euribor rate has fallen in just six weeks from 5.512% to 3.951%.Spain has once again recorded the largest increase in the unemployment rate in all of the European Union. The country remains with the highest rate of men out of work, but it is the youngsters who are most affected by the labour market. In October 12.8% of the active population was on the dole, up 4.3% over the year, according to the data from Eurosat.Inflation in Spain has fallen to 2.4% for the harmonized rate, its lowest since August 2007. The fall in November is 1.2%, the largest monthly fall since 2001. Oil prices an foodstuffs led the price reductions. It’s not all good news however, experts are now warning of the very real risk of deflation in Spain.
The number in November is used to set the pensions level for next year and it means the state will have to find 624 million more than forecast for pensioners.
Car sales for November in Spain will be the second worst month of all time, with early data indicating a fall of 48.2% compared to November 2007 at just 64,800 units.
Meanwhile lorry drivers are demonstrating that diesel prices are still 11% more expensive than before the petrol price bubble and they have called on the government to force the oil companies to pass on the lower price of crude.The National Court is investigating the ex Chairman of Real Madrid, Lorenzo Sanz, for an alleged fraudulent sale. He has been called to make a statement on December 3, in a case where he faces charges of money laundering and the falsification of documents.
The National Energy Commission in Spain is proposing a price rise for domestic Natural Gas in the first three months of next year of less than 2 percent. Over tariffs will be up by 2.02%Leader of the opposition, Mariano Rajoy, has said he is to ask for a parliamentary commission to be established to investigate the Lukoil petrol company. The PP leader said he wanted to know who Lukoil are, and what is their past, ahead of their possible purchase of Repsol shares.The European Commission has decided to take Spain to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg for not taking measures to stop the amount of advertising shown on TV screens here. Advertising on Spanish channels regularly breaks the 12 minute per hour limit fixed by European legislation, often by several minutes.

Three tornados have been filmed off the coast of the mediterranean Island of Mallorca. The eyes of the storms had winds in excess of 100kmh.

Three tornados have been filmed off the coast of the mediterranean Island of Mallorca. The eyes of the storms had winds in excess of 100kmh. Fortunately the twisters remained at sea and no damage was done.

Human skeleton has been found in a dry river bed next to the MA-387 road in Mijas.

|Human skeleton has been found in a dry river bed next to the MA-387 road in Mijas. Pathologists at the Institute of Legal Medicine are analysing the skeleton in an attempt to identify it. Whilst a preliminary examination suggests it is that of a large, middle-aged man who died about one year ago, existing environmental conditions may have delayed or accelerated the putrefaction of the body. Investigators have found what appears to be a bullet hole in the back of the skull and are investigating all disappearances reported up to one year ago. In recent years, no fewer than five bodies have been found inside suitcases in the province of Malaga.

Members of the Chinese community, were told by friends and family to carry a 50-euro note in their hand in order to avoid possible problems with their luggage at the airport.

Instruction Judge, number 13, has denounced 19 Guardia Civil officers for alleged bribery offences. The officers are alleged to have taken money from Malaga airport passengers to speed up or skip the customs process. An Asian passenger has also been accused of paying the officers to allow him to take food through customs.The defendants were all arrested in February, 2006. Some of the officers are charged with allowing the transit of foodstuffs which are banned due to security measures implemented to prevent the spread of foot and mouth disease and bird flu.It has been revealed that some passengers, especially members of the Chinese community, were told by friends and family to carry a 50-euro note in their hand in order to avoid possible problems with their luggage at the airport.

Arrested eleven young men, aged between 16 and 23 years, who assaulted a 25-year-old Moroccan passenger on a bus travelling from Malaga to Torremolinos.

Local Police officers have arrested eleven young men, aged between 16 and 23 years, who assaulted a 25-year-old Moroccan passenger on a bus travelling from Malaga to Torremolinos. When the gang, who have been described as skinheads, wearing jackets emblazoned with nazi emblems and military boots, threatened the victim, he got off the bus at the next stop and started to run, but ten of the eleven young men chased him, assaulted him and attempted to stab him with a pocket knife.Meanwhile, the bus was hijacked by another of the gang members, who threatened the driver and forced him to wait. When the gang re-boarded the bus and it was on its way once again, the gang broke the seals of the emergency hammers and removed them. They also sprayed tear gas inside the bus, forcing passengers to move to the front of the vehicle.
Local Police from Malaga eventually intercepted the bus and, having identified and searched the gang members, took them all into custody.

Monzer al-Kassar argued Wednesday that he was merely helping Spanish intelligence when he explored a deal to sell weapons to Colombian terrorists for use against the United States.

Syrian arms dealer argued Wednesday that he was merely helping Spanish intelligence when he explored a deal to sell weapons to Colombian terrorists for use against the United States.The attorney for Monzer al-Kassar, 62, told a Southern District of New York jury in closing argument that his client never intended to sell weapons to the Colombian rebel group FARC and was only continuing his long history as an intelligence asset to Spain."There is no case here," attorney Ira Sorkin told the jury in Judge Jed Rakoff's courtroom. "This was a sting against an individual in Spain created out of whole cloth by the [Drug Enforcement Administration] using paid informants to get al-Kassar."But prosecutor Brendan McGuire came back in rebuttal to call the defense of aiding Spanish intelligence a "cat-and-mouse claim.""Al-Kassar and Moreno are guilty of all the charges in the indictment," McGuire said. "This is not a close case. The evidence is overwhelming."McGuire and Boyd Johnson, Assistant U.S. Attorneys for the Southern District, have spent 2 1/2 weeks trying to prove that al-Kassar and co-defendant Luis Felipe Moreno Godoy, 59, conspired to provide support to foreign terrorists and kill Americans. The pair allegedly agreed to sell millions of dollars in weapons to two undercover informants posing as rebels with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, or FARC.According to the government, they agreed to arrange the delivery of weapons purchased in Eastern Europe and shipped to Suriname for transport overland to Colombia. The weapons in the alleged deal included anti-aircraft missiles to be used by FARC against U.S. helicopters in Colombia as well as grenade launchers, machine guns and millions of rounds of ammunition.Their cover was a purportedly legitimate sale of arms brokered between Romania and Nicaragua.During the sting, more than $400,000 was wired from New York to Spain as down payment, but no weapons ever changed hands.Al-Kassar has been described by prosecutors as one of the world's most prolific and shadowy arms dealers. The government says that since the 1970s he has provided military equipment to violent factions in Nicaragua, Brazil, Cyprus, Bosnia, Croatia, Somalia, Iran and Iraq.The alleged conspiracy took place between February 2006 and May 2007, and culminated with al-Kassar's arrest in Spain and the arrest of Godoy in Romania on June 7, 2007.The evidence at trial included a tape recording by an informant of a December 2006 meeting in a Beirut hotel room and accounts of three days of meetings in February 2007 with the two purported FARC representatives, Carlos and Luis, at al-Kassar's house in Marbella, Spain. The Marbella meetings were not recorded -- a fact the defense tried to exploit as a hole in the prosecution.The evidence also included conversations between al-Kassar and his high-level contact with Spanish intelligence in the first three months of 2007 and two recorded phone calls on June 7, 2007, the day he was arrested with a briefcase full of incriminating materials.The conversations and the calls were painted by the defense as evidence that al-Kassar was keeping the intelligence officer informed as to the progress of a deal he never intended to complete.But the prosecutors said that testimony and the recordings show al-Kassar was lying to the official because he never mentioned FARC and continued to present the deal as a legitimate one between Romania and Nicaragua."It's about al-Kassar protecting himself," McGuire said Wednesday, adding that the calls were all "about his risk of arrest."Johnson, in his closing on Tuesday, said the "cat-and-mouse" defense, in which the defendants say "they were trying to investigate the informants themselves for Spanish intelligence, is a defense that makes absolutely no sense.""Al-Kassar lied to the very intelligence officer he claims was working on the deal," Johnson said. "They were working for themselves."The motive, Johnson said, was that the two men "were obsessed with the money" -- more than 3 million euros in exchange for providing missiles, rifles, explosives and other material.And the two men, he said, "knew that the weapons were going to be used to shoot down the Apaches, the Hawks" -- U.S. helicopters in Colombia.Sorkin, of Dickstein Shapiro, tried to turn it around in his closing, saying the materials in al-Kassar's briefcase were so extensive that his client must have been planning to turn them over to his intelligence contact on the day he was arrested, for there was no reason he would otherwise be carrying them.The materials included end user certificates for the shipment of materials, correspondence with the Romanian arms maker and a company brochure, photographs of the alleged arsenal, a map showing Suriname and Colombia, and a schematic of the ship that would carry the arms and even a picture of the ship."The government would have you believe he would be running off to show pictures of the ship to the No. 2 FARC guy" in Bucharest, Sorkin said."We know also that this whole thing was developed by the DEA," he said. "It was a sting operation. It wasn't real and, at no time in this case ... did Godoy or Kassar ever say they were out to kill Americans or blow up Americans or harm Americans."Roger Stavis of Gallet, Dreyer & Berkey represents Godoy. In his closing on Tuesday, Stavis said that "al-Kassar was not an informant and Moreno was not an informant doing the bidding of Spanish intelligence -- they were assets. They provided information over the years."By contrast, Stavis said, the government informants were former narcotics traffickers themselves who "were paid millions of dollars over the years" to do the DEA's bidding, including "hundreds of thousands of dollars in this case.""The DEA's investigation of this case was an absolute disgrace," Stavis said. "You can't trust it and if it's the foundation for this prosecution, then their case is crumbling."The two men are charged with money laundering, and four conspiracies: conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organization; conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals; conspiracy to kill U.S. officers or employees; and conspiracy to acquire and use an anti-aircraft missile.
If convicted the pair face possible life sentences. After being charged by Judge Rakoff, the jury began its deliberations and had yet to reach a verdict by the end of the day.

Rafael Gómez Sánchez told the court on Saturday that he has no links to Juan Antonio Roca

The Córdoba builder and businessman, Rafael Gómez Sánchez, known as Sandokán, told the court on Saturday that he has no links to Juan Antonio Roca, the ex Municipal Real Estate Assessor in Marbella. Gómez is implicated himself in the Malaya case, facing charges of bribery, and last week some 410 works of art were found on his premises in Marbella, which investigators think belong to Roca or the businessmen Carlos Sánchez or Andrés Liétor.Sandokán claimed he has collected the artworks so he could face the debts of his Arenal 2000 construction company has with the taxman. He had been paying 1.5 million € a month to Hacienda, but El País reports those payments stopped in September.The raid took place on the outskirts of Cordoba city, in Parque Joyero de Córdoba, where police officers discovered around 410 paintings in warehouses belonging to Rafael Gómez, who known as 'Sandokán' and is the owner of the construction company Arenal 2000. Gómez is involved in the 'Malaya' case and is a partner in Marbella Airways of Juan Antonio Roca, alleged ring leader of the corruption.

80 per cent of money laundering cases uncovered in Europe are linked to the town of Marbella

According to the president of the Malaga Provincial Court, Francisco Javier Arroyo, 80 per cent of money laundering cases uncovered in Europe are linked to the town of Marbella. Speaking at the inauguration of the new term at the Escuela de Seguridad in that municipality, he told the press that the number of cases of money laundering in the town requires judges to “establish greater links with foreign authorities” and demonstrate a level of complete professionalism in their duties. “Money is laundered in places where the benefits are greatest, and because of its services, climate and proximity to Gibraltar, Marbella is seen as an ideal location,” said Arroyo, who called for greater collaboration between authorities to combat corruption. He also explained that since March this year, judges in Marbella have been able to specialise in dealing with this type of corruption, something which does not occur anywhere else in the country.

Anthony Kearney, 43, and his partner Donna McCafferty, were held after an anonymous call from a neighbour.

Anthony Kearney, 43, and his partner Donna McCafferty, were held after an anonymous call from a neighbour.Both are wanted for a string of fraud offences.
Nabbed: Anthony Kearney and his partner Donna McCafferty have been arrested in Spain just hours after Crimestoppers issued the above photographs.They were held in the Costa Blanca town of Benissa, 45 miles north east of Alicante, on Thursday evening.
Kearney was carrying false documents in the name of James Murray, one of nine aliases police knew him to use, when he was detained at 5.30pm.
His partner McCafferty was held two hours later.Armed officers swooped on the town after the Civil Guard received an phone call on Thursday lunchtime.

30kg of cocaine with a street value of around €1.3 million euros, was found hidden on board the British-registered 'Venturer'

Two fishermen from Galicia are under arrest in the Falkland Islands after nearly 30kg of cocaine with a street value of around €1.3 million euros, was found hidden on board the British-registered 'Venturer' during a search in Port Stanley harbour last Friday. Three other Spaniards and a Chilean national, who were arrested at the same time, have since been released after questioning. 'Venturer', which is adapted for squid fishing, has a total crew of forty, around half of whom are from Galicia. It had been due to return to Spain some time this week.The identities of the two men that remain in custody have been confirmed as Rogelio CP (41) and Jaime CM (26), both of whom are from Cangas (Pontevedra).

Trial starts of Monzer al-Kassar, 62, a longtime Spanish resident known as the "prince of Marbella" for his rich lifestyle in the glitzy seaside town

Jury was picked on Monday for a trial of a suspected Syrian arms dealer extradited from Spain on charges of planning to supply arms including surface-to-air missile systems to Colombian rebels.Opening arguments in the trial of Monzer al-Kassar, 62, a longtime Spanish resident known as the "prince of Marbella" for his rich lifestyle in the glitzy seaside town, are due to start on Wednesday.He is accused of planning to sell millions of dollars worth of weapons to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to protect a cocaine-trafficking business and attack U.S. interests.
Kassar, whom U.S. prosecutors call one of the most prolific arms dealers in the world, sat in U.S. District Court in Manhattan on Monday as his lawyers and prosecutors picked a jury of twelve from a pool of more than 120 people.He has pleaded not guilty to charges including conspiring to kill American nationals and officers, conspiring to acquire anti-aircraft missiles and providing support to a terrorist organization.Kassar was extradited from Spain in June after Spain received assurances from U.S. authorities he would face neither the death penalty nor a life sentence without chance of parole.He was arrested at the Madrid airport in June 2007 after his U.S. indictment said he knew the FARC kidnapped U.S. citizens to dissuade American efforts to disrupt the cocaine trade.The U.S. government has designated the FARC as a foreign terrorist organization. The rebels have been fighting for socialist revolution since 1964 and have at times run large swathes of Colombia.
At the time of his arrest, prosecutors said Kassar had met with two confidential sources working with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration at his home in Marbella and discussed the sale of weapons, including assault and sniper rifles and rocket propelled grenade launchers, to the FARC.Kassar also offered to send 1,000 men to fight with the FARC against U.S. military officers, prosecutors allege.
The U.S. Embassy in Madrid said Kassar has been selling weapons since the 1970s to the Palestinian Liberation Front and clients in Nicaragua, Bosnia, Croatia, Iran, Iraq and Somalia.Questions asked to the jurors included what concerns they had about terrorism, if they had ever heard of the FARC and whether they could give a fair trial to people whose business involved the sale of military weapons.Two other men charged in the same case, Tareq Mousa al Ghazi, 61, of Lebanon and Luis Felipe Moreno Godoy, 59, of Marbella, pleaded innocent in October 2007 to terrorism charges.
They were arrested in Bucharest, Romania but only Moreno Godoy will be prosecuted with Kassar after Ghazi's case was moved to a later date due to medical reasons.

British man, spent an entire night next to the body of his wife

41 year old British man, named with the initials G.P.F. spent an entire night next to the body of his wife after their car came off the windy A-7207 road between Cómpeta and Torrox in heavy rain around midnight. The car fell down a drop of some 70 metres and was completely destroyed. The husband was seriously injured and had to be rescued by the fire service, and taken by helicopter to the district hospital in Torre del Mar.There was another fatality on the roads of the province on Sunday in Casabermeja, where a car carrying three men came off the A45 road close to the first tunnel and crashed into a barrier. The man who died had been sitting in the back of the car, without a seat belt. Two other occupants in the car were only slightly hurt.
Nationally there were 17 deaths on Spain’s roads over the weekend, seven more than seen this weekend last year, with the weather playing its part in many of the accidents.

David and Victoria Beckham can't sell their mansion in Madrid dropped the asking price to £3m

David and Victoria Beckham can't sell their mansion in Madrid. The Beckhams have been trying to sell their luxury villa for 17 months but have yet to find a buyer.
The Beckhams' five bedroom villa in Madrid was put on the market last year when they left Spain for the US, according to the Daily Star.Posh and Becks were asking £5m for their property, dubbed 'Casa Beckham', but there have been no offers. As a result they have dropped the asking price to £3m."The house is incredible, but the market is in such a terrible state right now and the Beckhams have had no offers....They're going to have to take a lot less than the original price to have a realistic chance of selling the house," a source told the paper.The Madrid mansion is set in two acres and has an outdoor heated swimming pool, tennis courts, a small football pitch and a play area. The property is located in the suburb of La Moraleja.
The Beckhams paid £4.5m for the villa in May 2005 and spent £500,000 refurbishing it. The home was put up for sale when David signed a £125m contract with football team LA Galaxy."It's a lovely place with lots of charm, beautifully and tastefully decorated," the source continued."But even the super rich have been hit hard by the credit crunch."

Car Bomb Explodes AT Spains Navarra University in Pamplona

Car Bomb Explodes AT Spains Navarra University in Pamplona
The explosion happened at 10:58am this morning after a phone warning in the name of ETA an hour beforehand. There has been a car bomb explosion at Navarra University in Pamplona this morning. The device exploded at 1058am in the car park near the library, and set fire to five other cars nearby and also to a nearby building.Several people are reported to be slightly injured from flying glass

Spanish mortgage market has continued to take a battering this week

Spanish mortgage market has continued to take a battering this week after the Spanish Housing Association announced that the number of mortgage transactions has continued to fall.The number of house transactions in August fell by 36 percent compared to last year, which signalled that the situation is getting worse. Spain’s initial housing boom a decade ago meant that the economy was able to grow at the fastest rate in the euro zone. However in the aftermath of the financial crisis, the housing collapse that has ensued has taken the property market and the economy down too.As a result of its sudden demise, unemployment is now at a European-Union high of 11.3 percent in this quarter with the fear that Spain could now be the latest country that is deemed to be in recession.

Marbella Casino theft arrests

The man then admitted involvement in a theft from Marbella Casino. A Málaga man, named with the initials A.J.R.E. has been arrested in connection with a robbery at the Casino in Marbella. The man went to the police station to renew his D.N.I. identity card, but as the official keyed in his data his named was flagged as he was wanted for questioning. He soon found himself in the cells and confessed to his involvement in the crime. It’s not as strange an occurrence as you may think. National Police say they arrested another man on the same day in the same circumstances.

San Miguel Local Police and Guardia Civil were deployed

San Miguel Local Police and Guardia Civil were deployed on Wednesday to the football field in La Centinela to stop rival gangs from Arona and San Miguel having a full street fight. One of the gangs comprised more than 30 youths, some only children, armed with iron bars and clubs.Apparently, there was "history" between the two gangs and following an encounter about a month ago, scores were to be settled. Gang "members" were convoked to the event by mobile telephone.On this occasion there were no arrests, but several of the apparent leaders' details were taken in case there is a recurrence of the event ... which is likely, because scores are still not settled.

54,000 newly built homes in Málaga province which remain unsold on the market.

latest study from the Ministry for Housing shows that there are 54,000 newly built homes in Málaga province which remain unsold on the market.
Local promoters however doubt the number, which they say is closer to 25,000.The regional government, the Junta de Andalucía, has plans which will convert some of the empty homes into VPO assisted housing, but this is proving to be practically impossible in practice. The promoters say that the requirements for eligibility for the VPO plan need to be relaxed.It comes as forecasts for the local economy as a whole will see growth next year of 0.6%, compared with just under 2% for this, and will not create any new employment. Economic analysts from the Unicaja Group, said that there will be a fall in production in the province next year, and the economy will see no real recovery in 2010 either.

Body of a 44-year-old English man was found in a dried-up river bed near Órgiva

Body of a 44-year-old English man resident in Molvízar (Granada), who was reported missing by his family several days ago, was found in a dried-up river bed near Órgiva yesterday. An autopsy will be performed today, but it seems, at this stage, that investigators are not ruling out the possibility that the man may have taken his own life as his van was found abandoned nearby. A Guardia Civil mountain rescue team was called in to recover the body, which was found at the foot of a very high bridge on the N-323 freeway.

Thousands of Spaniards and hundreds of foreigners fear seeing their seaside residences seized by the state in an attempt to protect the coastline

Thousands of Spaniards and hundreds of foreigners fear seeing their seaside residences seized by the state in an attempt to protect the coastline from urbanisation and pollution, the daily El Pais reported Monday. The government has stepped up the 1988 law prohibiting the construction of housing near the coastline, according to the daily. The government is now nationalising such houses, although owners are granted the right to use them for up to 60 years. The measures can also affect houses which were built before the law went into force.
Britain and Germany, where most of the affected foreigners are from, are in touch with the Spanish authorities to protest over the expropriations, El Pais said.
Germany has requested information from Spain, diplomatic sources confirmed. Some of the affected property owners have lodged complaints with a Spanish ombudsman or at the European Parliament. The Spanish government has, however, won the vast majority of court cases over the law, sources of the environment ministry were quoted as saying. Environmentalists have long been concerned about the impact of urbanisation on Spain's coastline.

Kevin Russell Hawkes, drowned on the Carvajal beach in Fuengirola

Kevin Russell Hawkes, drowned on the Carvajal beach in Fuengirola . Health workers tried in vain to reanimate the man as his recently married wife urged them to continue with their efforts. The Briton had decided to take a swim at 4,15pm yesterday despite the large waves seen on the beach at the time and reports say he was soon in difficulties some 50m from the shore. A group of surfers were the only people on the beach who could help, but by the time they reached the man he was unconscious.The couple was staying with a group of friends in the Gardenia hotel in the town and were on their honeymoon.

REDUCTION of illegal homes in Marbella under threat of demolition from 700 to 500

Mayor of Marbella, Angeles Muñoz, and the regional government in Seville have agreed to legalize, in the new town plan, another 200 properties that were formerly earmarked for demolition. This reduces the number of illegal homes in Marbella under threat of demolition from 700 to 500. Now included in Marbella’s new town plan - effectively a massive planning amnesty for some 19,000 properties illegally built over the last few decades - is the Jardines del Príncipe development of 81 apartments located on Marbella’s Golden Mile. The development was over-built by 40%, blocking the sea views of various neighboring properties, whose owners took legal action and obtained a demolition order for part of the development. Under the new agreement the promoter avoids having to demolish part of the development in return for ceding the bottom floor to the town hall. It’s a similar story with the Jardines de la Costa development in San Pedro, from the promoter José María Enriquez, implicated in the Operation Malaya corruption scandal. The development will be legalized in return for donating land to the town hall in a different part of the municipality. The decision to legalize 200 properties has been criticized by local politicians from the opposition Socialist Party. They claim it mainly benefits developers who took advantage of a corrupt town hall in the past.

In other news Average Spanish property prices rose by 0.4% over 12 months to the end of September, but fell by 1.3% in the third quarter, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Housing. Taking into account consumer price inflation, which stood at 4.5% in September, the real cost of housing has fallen by 4.1% over the last 12 months. Newly built property prices rose by 1.7% over 12 months, but fell by 0.8% in the quarter. Resale or ‘second hand’ property, which the Ministry of Housing defines as more than 2 years old, fell by 0.3% over 12 months, and by 1.7% in the quarter. According to Tinsa, 75,000 new properties were sold in the second quarter of the year, the equivalent of 41% of the number of homes finished in the period, which drove up the inventory of new homes to 680,000. Tinsa estimates there will no more than 300,000 transactions in all 2008, implying that the stock of unsold new homes will rise to 930,000 by year end.Tinsa expects the inventory of new homes to keep rising into 2009, as construction on current housing developments finishes, and that it will take at least 2 years for the market to digest the housing overhang. This very much falls in line in how we see things at Spanish Hot Properties said Managing Director Nick Stuart. “The fundamentals are still very much the same that it is a great time to sell and a terrible time to buy and only developer who are prepared to make drastic price reductions will sell there properties especially in the 1 and 2 bedroom apartment market and its still a very difficult market” Nick confirmed

Estepona corruption Carlos Barientos,charged with bribery and money laundering

Carlos Barientos,charged with bribery and money laundering. The ex Mayor has already been held on remand in prison for four months. His cousin Carlos told the judge on Tuesday about several municipal decisions in which alleged payments of backhanders are under investigation.The current councillor for beaches, Miguel Navarro, has now also been charged with perversion of the course of justice in the case.Statements were also taken from two local businessmen, Aurelio Martin Simón, President of Costa del Sol Hipermercardos, who manages a Carrefour store in the town and who is promoting a new commercial centre, touted to be the largest in Spain.Owner of the Publiluna company, Francisco Antonio Navarro, also now faces charges of perversion of the course of justice and money laundering.

Jacqueline Tennant, went missing a year ago whilst hiking in the north east of Mallorca.

Jacqueline Tennant, went missing a year ago whilst hiking in the north east of the Mallorca. Jacqueline, originally from Reading, had spent the summer working in the holiday resort of Ca’n Picafort and spent any of her free time and days off hiking round Mallorca. Just before midday on the day she went missing, she answered a mobile phone call from her resort manager, saying that she was almost at the top and that the view was fantastic. When she failed to turn up for work the following day, she was reported missing, but reaction from the security services was slow and her sister Monique flew to Palma to lead the search for her. Only recently she stated that she still has not given up hope of finding her sister one day. The two sisters had been due to fly to Jamaica to visit their father the week after Jacqueline disappeared. Their father has since died and never knew what had happened to his daughter.

10 million files of pornographic images of children siezed in Malaga

In Andalucia, 37 arrests have been carried out and, apart from the ten in Málaga, eight homes have been searched in Seville, two in Huelva, three in Almería, five in Cádiz, four in Granada and two in Jaén. 10 million files of pornographic images of children, which have been described by Guardia Civil officers as nauseating, have been seized from ten individuals who have been arrested in the province, in one of the biggest operations against child pornography ever carried out in the country. More than 120 individuals have been arrested so far. Those accused in Malaga were set free with charges after testifying before investigators and will be recalled by the legal authorities. Police sources stated that arrests in the province started four days ago, after the magistrate’s court number five in Madrid sent out formal requests and arrest orders to the corresponding courts and the Violent and Specialised Crime Unit (UDEV) of the Provincial Police Force. Researchers from this group have made seven arrests in the capital and also in Velez-Malaga, Antequera and Nerja, and have searched a dozen homes where huge quantities of child pornography have been seized. The individuals arrested belong to a wide range of social groups, from waiters to building workers or caretakers, making it difficult for investigators to describe an accurate or reliable offender profile.Some 800 national policemen have participated in this operation, 210 homes have been inspected in 42 provinces, and paedophile files containing what is described as extremely hard material have been seized.

Lauren Cullen, and her 14 year old daughter have died when crossing a flooded ravine in their car

Lauren Cullen, and her 14 year old daughter also called Lauren, have died when crossing a flooded ravine in their car at L’Olleria in Valencia.
When the two women saw they could not get across in their car, they tried on foot with two other British people who managed to survive.The tragedy happened at a place known as La Palmera at 8pm last night, and firemen recovered their bodies in the early hours of this morning some 1.5km away from where they had tried to cross the ‘barranco’.The storms in the Valencia area have dropped 60 litres of water per square metre in an hour, but more than 200 litres per square metre has fallen in the complete storm, causing flooding to tunnels, basements and garages in the city.

Briton Tony King, could not have acted alone

Mother of Rocio Wanninkhof, the youngster from Mijas Costa who was murdered in October 1999, has called for a new court case because she thinks that the man found guilty of killing of her daughter, the Briton Tony King, could not have acted alone.
The family lawyer has made an application to the Málaga Provincial Court to re-open the case, basing his arguments on the evidence from the case in which King was found guilty. King was sentenced to 19 years in prison for the case, but the Wanninkhof family considers that two people would have been needed to carry out the crime and move the body. Lawyer Marcos García-Montes explained that they were not looking for new evidence, only to determine once and for all their ‘single obsession’ if Dolores Vázquez took part in the crime or not.She is the woman who was a family friend, and had a lesbian relationship with Rocio’s mother and who was initially found guilty of the murder and sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2001. Later that verdict was deemed as unsafe and overturned by the Andalucian High Court.

Cecilia Natalia Coria Olivares has died in Nerja after being stabbed 15 times by her former boyfriend

25-year-old Argentinean woman has died in Nerja after being stabbed 15 times by her former boyfriend, Hicham B. Cecilia Natalia Coria Olivares was attacked as she arrived for work in the town centre on Sunday morning.
The victim was a waitress in one of the cafés near the Church of San Salvador on the Balcón de Europa which is where her attacker surprised her at about 9.20 am as she was setting out tables on the terrace. He produced a large knife and stabbed her in the back puncturing a lung. As she tried to fend him off, she suffered additional injuries to her arms and was stabbed a total of 15 times. A passer-by took a chair from the café terrace and struck the man in an effort to stop him, at which point the assailant fled towards Plaza Cavana. Waiters and other staff from nearby businesses rushed to help the girl by using tablecloths to stem the blood flow. She was still alive and able to identify her aggressor, but the emergency services were unable to revive her and she died at the scene. Within a short time, the Guardia Civil arrested a 29-year-old Moroccan alleged to have been responsible and who is reported to have been under a court restraining order, prohibiting him from approaching the victim. The couple are reported to have ended a two-year relationship recently, since when he had been threatening her verbally and in text messages. Cecelia had reported her alleged killer to the police on three occasions, the last time the evening before she died, telling them that he had threatened her saying he was going to kill her “with a knife, a gun or the first thing he could find”. When asked by officers if she thought he would carry out his threat, she replied yes.

Spanish police interrupted the wedding banquet of a suspected drug trafficker, detaining him and 10 guests

Spanish police interrupted the wedding banquet of a suspected drug trafficker, detaining him and 10 guests, police said Tuesday. Police used the wedding party in Madrid to capture all the suspects, most of whom were Colombian citizens. The ring was suspected of importing cocaine hidden in shipments of legal merchandise, distributing it in Spain and legalising the actions by using real companies as a cover. Nineteen other people were held earlier in Spain and Colombia. Spanish police took 250 kilos of cocaine in a previous phase of the operation, which was launched in 2006.

Released Erden Vardar and Sahin Eren were detained on July 12th, 2006, in Huelva as they tried to smuggle 12 kilos of heroin into the country

National Court Judge Baltasar Garzon came under more fire from the press last week when it was revealed that two dangerous Turkish drug traffickers had been released from jail through an oversight on his part. The men walked free in July when their two-year provisional imprisonment ended and the judge failed to extend it. Erden Vardar and Sahin Eren were detained on July 12th, 2006, in Huelva as they tried to smuggle 12 kilos of heroin into the country. Their arrest led to the dismantling of one of the biggest heroin smuggling rings in which another Turk, one Croatian ten Spaniards were detained and 30 kilos of heroin were seized. Judge Garzon had just arrived back from a visit to Colombia where he had opened a seminar, just days before the two-year provisional sentence was due to end, and a few days later left Madrid again. He finally ordered the extension of the men;s provisional imprisonment a few days after it should have been done. As a result, their lawyer was able to get them out of jail. The judge said their release made no difference because they were still in the country and were due to appear in court again later this month

Gary Glitter had made plans to start a new life on the Costa Del Sol

Gary Glitter has been threatened with a 1million pounds bounty on his head if he ever leaves the UK for Spain.Glitter had made plans to start a new life on the Costa Del Sol, but when gangland bosses heard of it, they vowed that they would kill him if he ever set foot in Spain.If Gary Glitter sets foot in Spain, hes dead. One of the biggest British gangsters in Spain is so concerned about him trying to start a new life over here he has offered 1million pounds to anyone who takes him out, Daily Star quoted a gangland source as saying.
What he has done to all those kids is just disgusting and he should be locked up for life. But as the courts have decided to set him free, people over here have decided to take the law into their own hands…and there are plenty of people who would be happy to kill him.The money is just a bonus. Most of the gangsters would be happy to bump him off for nothing, the source stated.Glitter, 64, was planning to buy a posh pad in Puerto Banus in Marbella, but was stopped by police from going to Spain via France last week, and a Foreign Travel Order was granted banning him from leaving the country.The area is a popular celebrity spot, and Glitter, real name Paul Gadd, had been hoping to lose himself among them, but the area also happens to house a number of families with young children, making drug barons and gangsters, who run the resort, want him out.There are a lot of guys out here who are violent men on the run from the police in the UK. They have nothing to lose by wiping out Glitter, the source revealed.No one wants him here and even though these are bad guys, they care about kids and they dont want him preying on the youngsters who come here for a nice holiday, the source added.Glitter has been banned from travelling to France or Spain by Ashford magistrates.

Spanish radio station has published on its web site 2005 Spanish Defense Ministry intelligence report

Spanish radio station has published on its web site what it says is a 2005 Spanish Defense Ministry intelligence report - replete with official insignia and stamped "confidential" - that says Pakistan's premier intelligence service supplied the Taliban with explosives with which to assassinate senior Afghan officials.News reports say the Spanish government declined to comment on the document. Such silences usually speak for themselves.U.S. military and intelligence officials have long privately alleged that officials of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate continued supporting the Taliban after Islamabad officially ended its patronage of the Islamic movement following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
The document published on the web site of Cadena Ser, Spain's main station for news and information, appears to be the first official report to enter the public domain that makes that allegation. There are more than 700 Spanish troops with NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.Pakistan has repeatedly denied ISI complicity with the Taliban post-Sept. 11, although the agency's director was replaced this week under pressure from the United States. The shakeup follows charges by unnamed U.S. officials that ISI operatives were involved in the July 2008 bombing of the Indian Embassy in Kabul. The Afghan government also accused the ISI of complicity in a June 2008 attempt to assassinate President Hamid Karzai.
The document published by Cadena Ser is dated August 2005. It says that the ISI supplied improvised explosive devices to the Taliban "to assassinate high-level" Afghan government officials "from a distance.""They (Taliban) are going to place them (bombs) in vehicles although their targets have not been specified," says the document.The document says it "is possible" that the ISI was training Taliban fighters to use improvised explosive devices at camps inside Pakistan.
The use of the devices in Afghanistan was "inspired" by the use of similar bombs in Iraq, it says.

Steven Waddington fell to his death from a sixth-floor balcony during his honeymoon in Spain

Bride whose husband fell to his death from a sixth-floor balcony during their honeymoon in Spain is preparing to fly home with his body, it emerged yesterday.
Steven and Sarah Waddington, from Hollin, near Middleton in Greater Manchester, were in Benalmádena on the Costa del Sol. They married six weeks ago after an 18-month engagement.Mrs Waddington, a 28-year-old health worker, was said to have walked into their hotel room on Saturday night to find her husband hanging from the balcony rail, crying for help. Mr Waddington, 35, lost his grip and fell. It is thought that he had spent the night drinking in their hotel."We were in love and I will never ever be able to get over this loss," said Sarah Waddington. "Nobody could ever take away this pain. We don't deserve this, it's so unfair. Steven was so popular. He just brought a ray of sunshine into all our lives. He would do anything for anyone and he was like a big brother to a lot of people." The couple lived with their adopted daughter Caragh, 14, Sarah Waddington's cousin, and her son, Harry, who is three. Caragh, whose mother died of cancer in 2004, said: "Steven was the perfect father figure to me and Harry."Steven Waddington, a former pupil of Langley primary and Queen Elizabeth high school, was a talented amateur boxer. Nicknamed The Whip, he won a British super middleweight title in August. Sarah Waddington's best friend, Clare Lancaster, said: "He was the happiest he had ever been and so in love with his beautiful wife, Sarah, and children Harry and Caragh." Terry Ham, a friend and fellow boxer said: "I'm going to miss our training together and our arguments, even when we were both in the wrong, but the next day we would both be in the pub drinking together the best of mates."Thinking of it all now not only brings a tear to my eye, but also makes me laugh. All the boys and my family are truly upset like you can't believe ... Life will never be the same without my spar."
Waddington was described by his employer, Danny Hornsby, as a "sound" amateur boxer.
"I'd known Steven for a couple of years. He was a popular lad and a sound boxer," he said. A spokesman for the Foreign Office said it was looking into the incident.

Spanish ABC newspaper reported that during intercepted telephone calls between Tambov gang leaders Gennady Petrov and Leonid Khristoforov,

The Tambov gang hails from St. Petersburg and takes its name from the city in southwest Russia that its founders were born in. It is thought to have several hundred active members. Twenty Russians suspected of being members of the gang and involved in laundering the proceeds from organized crime were arrested by Spanish police in June in Madrid and Barcelona, as well as Malaga, Valencia and the Balearic Islands.
Spanish ABC newspaper reported that during intercepted telephone calls between Tambov gang leaders Gennady Petrov and Leonid Khristoforov, the Russian mafia bosses bragged about paying "some 50 million" to ensure that Zenit would win their games against Bayern and Rangers. Neither the currency involved, nor the exact methods used to 'fix' the games were stated. It is also not clear what the gang had to gain from their alleged fixing of the results.
Accusations of match-fixing are common in Russian soccer, but the claims exclusively involve domestic games. Bayern's goalkeeper in their 4-0 defeat in St. Petersburg was the legendary Oliver Kahn. The German keeper retired from soccer at the end of last season, and had often stated that he dreamt of taking his bow in the UEFA Cup final. "There have been a number of media reports quoting various sources in Spain that concern the reputation of FC Zenit. The performances by Zenit in the games against Bayern and Rangers are the best proof that these victories were achieved in honest and uncompromising battles," a statement on the Zenit website read.
"At the moment, Zenit's lawyers are evaluating the context of the original publications," the statement added. The press secretary for state-run energy giant Gazprom, which has a controlling stake in Zenit, added that there was "no doubt that the victory was honest." He also said that at present, Gazprom lawyers are not involved in the bid to clear the club's name. "We know about this story and it is something that our investigations unit would obviously be keen to look into." "Allegations of this nature are always worrisome to hear. It is important that we find out what is factual and what is only speculation or part of a newspaper story," he added. Zenit's Dutch coach Dick Advocaat, who was also the Glasgow Rangers' manager from 1998-2002, told the Daily Record: "This is incredible. All I can say is, let them play the tapes so we can hear what has been said. Then everyone will know what a big lie it is. Everyone knows the simple truth - we had a better team than Rangers. That's why we won the UEFA Cup." "There is a lot of jealousy about what we have achieved with Zenit in such a short space of time. People don't like the fact that we have been so successful so quickly. But that has nothing to do with bribes or dirty money. It has everything to do with the quality of the players and coaching staff," he added. The vice-president of the Russian Football Union, Nikita Simonyan told the Sport Den Za Dnem website: "We are used to this kind of thing. Even some of our so-called fans have a tendency to see everything negatively. If we lose, we played badly. If we win, that means we bought the game. This is nonsense." "I've even heard stories about how we bought our Euro 2008 victory against Holland - I've been told the exact sum," he added, going on to say that clubs like Bayern Munich "don't play dirty matches." Ordinary Russian fans were also skeptical, with one supporter, Dmitry Dudenkov, telling RIA Novosti that the claims were "rubbish."
"We bought everything of course! The win against Holland, the ice-hockey world championships, and Dima Bilan's Eurovision victory!" he said.

Case against Michael Dermot McArdle is underway at the Málaga Provincial Court.

Case against Michael Dermot McArdle is underway at the Málaga Provincial Court.
After a delay from Monday because of a bomb hoax at the provincial court building in Málaga, the case against the Irish man accused of throwing his wife to her death off a Marbella hotel balcony, finally got underway on Tuesday.39 year old Michael Dermot McArdle, from Dundalk, denied throwing his wife Kelly-Anne off the fourth floor balcony of the Melia Don Pepe hotel on February 11, 2000 after a row, saying she tripped and fell when she went to attend to her son.However a witness, who was staying in the adjacent room in the hotel, Roy Haines, told the court that he told McArdle to put the mother of two down when he heard noises and saw him lifting her above his head. He said he heard shouts of ‘help’ and that there had been no child on the balcony. Later he said McArdle came to his room with a child with him – the boy said simply ‘My Mummy is dead’.Spanish police said that McArdle first claimed his wife had committed suicide, before later changing his story saying she had fallen by accident.

young son of balcony death mum Kelly-Anne Corcoran told a relative after her death: "Daddy bold; Daddy pushed Mammy", a murder trial heard today.Kelly-Anne’s brother-in-law, Peter Moran, recounted to gardai what the boy said about his mother’s fatal fall from a Spanish hotel balcony. Det Sgt Brian Mohan gave evidence of the interview on the second day of the trial in Spain of Ms Corcoran’s husband Michael McArdle who is charged with her murder. The mother-of-two died after a horrific fall from the balcony of a four star apartment complex in Marbella in February 2000. Mr McArdle from Haggardstown, Dundalk denies his wife’s murder. He insists her fall was an accident. Malaga’s provincial court also heard today that a Spanish police officer who took the accused’s statement noted McArdle seemed calm and not like someone whose wife had just died. The accused was in court today with his sons who are now 10 and 11. His new girlfriend Clare Dollard was also with him and watched proceedings from the back of the mostly empty courtroom. Det Sgt Mohan told the judge and jury through a translator that “everyone was very upset” when he spoke to members of Kelly-Anne’s extended family, the Corcorans and the Morans.
Responding to questions by defence lawyer Luis Casaubon he said he was a friend of the Corcoran family but insisted he acted impartially and properly throughout his involvement in the investigations. Det Sgt Mohan explained he was attached to the crime unit at Dundalk Garda Station. He said he took several statements following requests from Interpol. Kelly-Anne’s sister Caroline Moran had telephoned him on February 12, 2000 and asked him to inform her mother of the tragic events in Spain as she did not want to do so herself. He told Interpol in his report to them that the Corcoran and Moran families had information that would assist the investigation.
Ms Moran’s husband Peter told him in an interview that one of Kelly-Anne’s children said to him a day or two after her death: “Daddy bold; Daddy pushed Mammy”.
Det Insp John O’Mahony, now a Chief Superintendent told the court of a mutual assistance request received by the gardai from the Spanish authorities in relation to the investigation. He said when the Spanish police travelled to Ireland to speak to Mr McArdle he found it “surprising” that the accused “all of a sudden didn’t want to speak”. He was surprised because Mr McArdle had agreed to be interviewed, he said. “His solicitor told me that he had changed his mind, I asked him again would he reconsider as there had been a number of discrepancies found by the Spanish police,” Chief Supt O’Mahony said. “The solicitor went and spoke again to Mr McArdle and he came back a second time and said on legal advice he was not going to speak”.
Supt O’Mahony understood that the Spanish police in subsequent investigations had found a number of contradictions with Mr McArdle’s statement and now wanted to interview him to clarify those contradictions. Supt O’Mahony did not believe that Sgt Mohan had acted improperly adding “in fact it was his duty to have enquiries carried out”.

Antonio Ordinas, the former head of the islands' public-run Economic Development Consortium (CDEIB), and his wife, the historian and opera singer Isab

Eight people were arrested in Majorca on Monday in the latest investigation of corruption by the previous Popular Party regional government of the Balearic Islands.
Antonio Ordinas, the former head of the islands' public-run Economic Development Consortium (CDEIB), and his wife, the historian and opera singer Isabel Rosselló, were arrested as key suspects in the case. Their home, a two-storey mansion with a seven-car garage outside Palma, was searched by police along with the offices of advertising firms and consultancies connected with Ordinas. The investigation involves illegal contracts, false accounting and theft at the CDEIB until 2007, when the PP administration of former premier Jaume Matas lost power, leaving a EUR 8 million loss in the CDEIB's accounts. The current investigation was started by the Socialist officials who took over the consortium and found EUR 17,000 in unexplained expenses charged by Ordinas. Further examination of accounts revealed false expenses and questionable contracts worth up to EUR 1 million. At least three other corruption cases were opened relating to Matas' rule.

€16m of unregistered income from town planning licences issued between 2003 and 2004 by Estepona Town Hall

Inspectors working for Hacienda tax authorities in Spain appear to have unearthed around €16m of unregistered income from town planning licences issued between 2003 and 2004 by Estepona Town Hall, Costa del Sol, indicating potential VAT fraud.
The inspectors, who claim to have had their investigation hindered by the Town Hall, have now submitted the documentary evidence to the Prosecutors’ Office. Manuel Reina, a former politician, is responsible for the accounts, and is currently being detained in connection with the Astapa court case.